arXiv subjects

Amin Kamali

Publications and source records attributed to Amin Kamali.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Enhancing Scientific Literature Chatbots with Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Performance Evaluation of Vector and Graph-Based Systems

This paper investigates the enhancement of scientific literature chatbots through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), with a focus on evaluating vector- and graph-based retrieval systems. The proposed chatbot leverages both structured (graph) and unstructured (vector) databases to access scientific articles and gray literature, enabling efficient triage of sources according to research objectives. To systematically assess performance, we examine two use-case scenarios: retrieval from a single uploaded document and retrieval from a large-scale corpus. Benchmark test sets were generated using a GPT model, with selected outputs annotated for evaluation. The comparative analysis emphasizes retrieval accuracy and response relevance, providing insight into the strengths and limitations of each approach. The findings demonstrate the potential of hybrid RAG systems to improve accessibility to scientific knowledge and to support evidence-based decision making.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2025

Robust Plan Evaluation based on Approximate Probabilistic Machine Learning

Query optimizers in RDBMSs search for execution plans expected to be optimal for given queries. They use parameter estimates, often inaccurate, and make assumptions that may not hold in practice. Consequently, they may select plans that are suboptimal at runtime if estimates and assumptions are not valid. Therefore, they do not sufficiently support robust query optimization. Using ML to improve data systems has shown promising results for query optimization. Inspired by this, we propose Robust Query Optimizer (Roq), a holistic framework based on a risk-aware learning approach. Roq includes a novel formalization of the notion of robustness in the context of query optimization and a principled approach for its quantification and measurement based on approximate probabilistic ML. It also includes novel strategies and algorithms for query plan evaluation and selection. Roq includes a novel learned cost model that is designed to predict the cost of query execution and the associated risks and performs query optimization accordingly. We demonstrate that Roq provides significant improvements in robust query optimization compared with the state-of-the-art.

cs.DB↗

arXiv2025

Reqo: A Comprehensive Learning-Based Cost Model for Robust and Explainable Query Optimization

Although machine learning (ML) shows potential in improving query optimization by generating and selecting more efficient plans, ensuring the robustness of learning-based cost models (LCMs) remains challenging. These LCMs currently lack explainability, which undermines user trust and limits the ability to derive insights from their cost predictions to improve plan quality. Accurately converting tree-structured query plans into representations via tree models is also essential, as omitting any details may negatively impact subsequent cost model performance. Additionally, inherent uncertainty in cost estimation leads to inaccurate predictions, resulting in suboptimal plan selection. To address these challenges, we introduce Reqo, a Robust and Explainable Query Optimization cost model that comprehensively enhances three main stages in query optimization: plan generation, plan representation, and plan selection. Reqo integrates three innovations: the first explainability technique for LCMs that quantifies subgraph contributions and produces plan generation hints to enhance candidate plan quality; a novel tree model based on Bidirectional Graph Neural Networks (Bi-GNNs) with a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) aggregator to further capture both node-level and structural information and effectively strengthen plan representation; and an uncertainty-aware learning-to-rank cost estimator that adaptively integrates cost estimates with uncertainties to enhance plan selection robustness. Extensive experiments demonstrate that Reqo outperforms state-of-the-art approaches across all three stages.

cs.DB↗

arXiv2024

A Novel Framework Using Deep Reinforcement Learning for Join Order Selection

Join order selection is a sub-field of query optimization that aims to find the optimal join order for an SQL query with the minimum cost. The challenge lies in the exponentially growing search space as the number of tables increases, making exhaustive enumeration impractical. Traditional optimizers use static heuristics to prune the search space, but they often fail to adapt to changes or improve based on feedback from the DBMS. Recent research addresses these limitations with Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), allowing models to use feedback to dynamically search for better join orders and enhance performance over time. Existing research primarily focuses on capturing join order sequences and their representations at various levels, with limited comparative analysis of reinforcement learning methods. In this paper, we propose GTDD, a novel framework that integrates Graph Neural Networks (GNN), Treestructured Long Short-Term Memory (Tree LSTM), and DuelingDQN. We conduct a series of experiments that demonstrate a clear advantage of GTDD over state-of the-art techniques.

cs.DB↗

arXiv2024

A Novel Technique for Query Plan Representation Based on Graph Neural Nets

Learning representations for query plans play a pivotal role in machine learning-based query optimizers of database management systems. To this end, particular model architectures are proposed in the literature to transform the tree-structured query plans into representations with formats learnable by downstream machine learning models. However, existing research rarely compares and analyzes the query plan representation capabilities of these tree models and their direct impact on the performance of the overall optimizer. To address this problem, we perform a comparative study to explore the effect of using different state-of-the-art tree models on the optimizer's cost estimation and plan selection performance in relatively complex workloads. Additionally, we explore the possibility of using graph neural networks (GNNs) in the query plan representation task. We propose a novel tree model BiGG employing Bidirectional GNN aggregated by Gated recurrent units (GRUs) and demonstrate experimentally that BiGG provides significant improvements to cost estimation tasks and relatively excellent plan selection performance compared to the state-of-the-art tree models.

cs.DB↗